[FIN] Some News

[BlackFireKitsune]

After their late dinner the night before, the pair had headed to pick up a couple things from a nearby store. In the end Abel had picked out a decent CD player for not too much, a sketchpad, a thin box of colored pencils and a small sharpener, and two paperback books whose covers indicated morally dubious, inappropriate contents. Unfortunately for him, after arriving home he found he didn't sleep well at all - not that that came as any surprise given his mounting concerns for his boyfriend - so when morning arrived he had little to no trouble getting up and readying himself for the day.

Once Abel and Taavi had made and eaten a quick breakfast and coffee, had changed and grabbed the things he'd bought for Zev the night before, it was only a short flight to the hospital and a quick walk from the entrance to the ICU. Heading through the ICU's main doors after turning their devices off and sanitizing their hands had become like second nature, Abel couldn't help but think with some amount of concern for the realization, but he swept it aside for now. Zevran would be out of the ICU today, he was sure, and then it'd be in a different, less critical area. With that thought firmly in mind, the blond headed over to the desk with a slightly tired smile alongside Taavi and Amigo, with Isaac trotting at his heels. "Morning," he said to the attending, attempting to keep the tiredness from his voice even if it was visible in his eyes, "how was everything last night?"  

[TawnyAngel]

When Zev was out of here he would be a lot happier, there were way too many machines and worried looking people around. It would be today though they'd said, this morning even probably as it hadn't happened last night as Summer had thought it might. Everything from here was going to get better... Probably.

Dr. Solus looked up from his notes and blinked at Abel. "Oh, good morning Mr. Grey. Last night..." He paused and frowned slightly. "I am told I can be tactless, so I shall try not to be. Mmh. Zevran was... a little agitated when he woke up at around two this morning. He broke nurse Cooper's wrist. Physically though? No additional problems. Nurse Summer is sitting with him at the moment, he's scheduled to be moved to a general ward as soon as a bed and porters are available."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Solus first gave him pause with the frown and then with the 'tactless' bit, though it was the fact Zevran had been agitated - somehow, by something - and had broken a nurse's wrist. Abel's eyebrows lifted so high they might've been trying to achieve liftoff. A few silent, speechless moments later he said eloquently, "What?" Summer was sitting with him now and he'd be moved to a general ward - as expected - this morning. And he'd broken someone's wrist. What.  

[TawnyAngel]

What. What? That was... He wasn't sure he'd heard wrong because the doctor had sounded so calm, but no he knew he hadn't. Well... ******** said he broke somebody's wrist," Solus repeated patiently, as though this sort of thing happened all the time. "Cooper was trying to restrain him to prevent him from injuring himself, but it didn't go so well. I didn't see it myself but by all accounts he threw him over his shoulder and 'sort of yanked', and that was the end of Cooper's shift." The skinny man sniffed and shook his head. "Shouldn't have tried it by himself, meant well but intentions don't prevent consequences. Anyway, Zevran managed to pull off some monitors, jarred some of the lines, and pulled out the central line but we were going to remove that anyway so we didn't put it back in. There was a little bleeding but no real harm done. Not to Zevran anyway."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Oh. Well. "That's..." Abel licked his suddenly dry lips, frowned, and rubbed his free hand over his face tiredly. He'd known Zev was anxious, hadn't wanted him to leave, would no doubt he scared and afraid to be alone but he never thought for a moment something like this would happen. ...he shouldn't have left. Damn it, he knew he had to but he shouldn't have. s**t.

"s**t," he said eventually, his hand dropping back to his side. "I knew he'd be anxious to be alone but I didn't think... I'm sorry. Hopefully Cooper's wrist heals quickly," the blond added with a bit of a wince. Poor guy had a broken wrist because he'd tried to restrain him... which... Abel could've guessed how that would end, even if the nurse hadn't. 'Not well' to be sure -- as it had obviously ended.  

[TawnyAngel]

"It's only a small fracture, he'll just be on desk duties for a few weeks," Solus said a little dismissively; in his domain of blaring alarms and people trying to die on a regular basis a broken wrist was barely worth mentioning save that it took one of his staff out of action. "Zevran calmed down a lot once he got his bearings, will be prescribing sleep aids for tonight so he can get some proper rest. Anyway, you can go and see him now if you want to; I have a lot of work to do."

"Um... Yeah." Taavi turned to Abel and nodded, he was still struggling a bit to take in what had happened and it showed on his face. "Let's do that, he'll be all the better for seeing you Abel." He'd just hurled somebody over his shoulder and broken their wrist. That was a thing that had happened.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"That's... that's good at least," Abel finally managed, still trying to process just what had happened. What had happened? Zev had been agitated, what did that mean? Why had he been agitated? "Mmh, sleep aids would probably be a good idea, yeah..." ...if he'd even take them. "Oh, uh, thanks. Yeah, let's go see him," he went on to Taavi as he turned and headed towards Zev's room, not actually waiting to make sure his friend followed or not. Zevran had pulled things out - like the tube in his throat - and had thrown a nurse over his shoulder. Like three days after he'd been shot. Twice. How the <******** knocked lightly on the door but didn't wait long at all before opening it and stepping inside, his colorful gaze seeking out his love immediately. "Morning sunshine," he said gently despite the worry and confusion he felt. "How're you feeling?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran looked somewhat worse than he had the previous day though maybe not as bad as he had with a tube down his throat. He was pale, paler than he had been when Abel had left last night, which only served to emphasise the dark circles under his eyes. He smiled when Abel, Taavi, and Amigo entered but it was very obviously a token gesture. "I am okay; I have felt worse," he replied rather blandly. "Summer has been entertaining me with stories."

"I've been tryin' to bore him to sleep but he just keeps listening," Summer smiled; she was seated in one of the awful plastic chairs right up against the bed, but about half way down it so that she and Zevran were facing one another more or less.

'I have felt worse' was definitely not a usual way of saying 'okay'. What was the standard of 'okay' here?

Taavi pushed the door quietly closed behind him and leant back against it feeling worried and awkward.

Amigo, who had no such reservations, flew over to land on his customary spot on the rail of the bed.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Well he'd sort of expected him to look or feel tired - and sore - but he just seemed... Something was wrong. "Ah, they must be good stories then; too exciting," he noted with a quiet smile as he crossed the room in short order, carefully setting his bag down on the floor before he cupped Zevran's face in his hands, as gentle and careful as ever, then leaned down to press a soft kiss to his forehead. "I heard you had an interesting night last night. What happened?"  

[TawnyAngel]

Zevran's expression tightened and he turned his head away from Abel slightly. "I told him to keep his ******** hands off me," he hissed. "He did not listen and so I made him keep his hands off. Simple." He hadn't wanted a comforting touch, kind words, and he didn't want them now either. He didn't want Summer to be here telling him her stories but better her than one of the others, Abel trusted her and that was something.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Nnnope, something was definitely wrong. Abel studied his boyfriend's face for a couple silent moments, and while one hand slipped away from his face the other remained, every so lightly tracing soft lines over his cheek. "Mmh," he said vaguely in response, and then rather than continue on that vein he turned to look at Summer and Taavi hopefully. "Would you mind giving us a minute to talk please?" Something was wrong - very wrong - and while he could guess at it all day and perhaps even get close, that wouldn't change or fix it.  

[TawnyAngel]

Summer glanced from Zevran to Abel and then back again. After a pause she nodded and got to her feet. "Let's take a walk Taavi, we'll get some coffee. Amigo, you come on too."

s**t. This wasn't right, at all. Had he remembered? Taavi opened his mouth to speak but he couldn't think of a single thing to say and so he closed it again and opened the door instead to leave along with Summer and Amigo. Why the <******** had any of this had to happen?

Zevran didn't look around when Taavi left with Amigo and the nurse. He didn't look around when the door closed either. "You wish to talk?" he asked tersely. "So talk, I am tethered to these machines so I have little choice but to stay and listen unless I wish to tear more lines out of myself." Even if he did he knew he wouldn't get far.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

When Summer got up and left with Taavi, Abel reached over to pull the uncomfortable chair closer so he could sink down into it, but rather than say anything right away he merely exhaled long and low. Where did he even start? He didn't want to go off into some sort of monologue of course, but it'd probably be better if he started off with something at least. "I'm sorry I left last night," he began, his expression, his demeanor, his voice apologetic as he folded his hands in his lap. "I didn't want to leave you here by yourself all night but I had to leave - they wouldn't let me stay - though I didn't think anything like that would happen. If you really don't want to talk I won't make you, you know I don't ever want to make you do anything you don't want to do, but I know something's wrong. Something happened - something must have happened - and I'd like it if you talked about it, but if you really don't want to then I won't push it. You do have choices, hooked up to machines or no."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Do I have choices?" Zevran shook his head sharply. "If I do not speak you will be hurt, disappointed, something and what choice is that? It is as much as I have ever had, to do something I do not wish to do or suffer pain. Is life really thus everywhere? I had thought things could be different here. Foolish." Perhaps other people had always had choices about small things where he had not but big things? Nobody chose those and those who thought they did were deluded fools or had never truly faced a choice, a thing that deserved its own word that was more than choice. Abel wouldn't be satisfied if he didn't speak, yet-

"What can I possibly say? I remember what happened. I know what he did. I know what I did." He had seen him fall. A clean shot between the eyes. Riskier than shooting for the chest, a small target, but if you managed to strike true....  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"You do have choices. If you don't want to talk then I won't be hurt or disappointed or upset, or anything like that. All I am is worried about you, Zevran, and that isn't going to change no matter how much or how little you talk." Though his heart would ache more or less depending on what he said -- like things like that.

It made sense though, if he remembered everything in the middle of the night. "Is that why you started pulling things out, and why the nurse tried to stop you?"